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Hundreds of saints gather to pay tributes to Lakshmanananda

Photo: Lingaraj Panda

A girl with her sister takes a bewildered look at a gun-trotting jawan at Tikabali relief camp in Kandhamal district. —

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the police prevented a procession of saints and clamped prohibitory orders at various locations to avoid trouble, hundreds of people, including many saints, attended a memorial meeting here on Saturday to pay tributes to VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda, who was killed in Kandhamal district on August 23. Several Bharatiya Janata Party legislators also attended the memorial meeting that was held at Swadhinata Sangrami Bhavan Grounds amid tight security.

Many saints, who paid tributes to Lakshmanananda on the occasion, urged the gathering to take a vow to spread message of the slain Swami in every village of Orissa.

The speakers criticised the Naveen Patnaik Government for its failure to protect the life of the slain Swami, who had sought police help before his killing. They also blamed the Government for its failure to arrest those who killed the Swami and four others at Jalespata ashram in Kandhamal. They also criticised the authorities for preventing the procession of the saints during the day. Although the State Government had become serious about maintaining law and order during the proposed processions of the VHP and its allies from Chakapad ashram in Kandhamal after the Supreme Court order in this regard, Sangh Parivar leaders said would go ahead with their plans.

In Kandhamal, security was tightened on Saturday as the VHP and other organisations were scheduled to organise a memorial meeting at Chakapad ashram on Sunday, the 16th day of the killing of the Swami. Additional police forces had been deployed on all roads leading to Chakapad and security had been strengthened at various locations in the region to prevent recurrence of communal violence in the district.

After the memorial function gets over at Chakapad, the VHP and Bajrang Dal have announced that soil from the Swami’s Samadhi will be taken by the people to villages across the State.

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